A/N: And so my dear readers, my little three part story has come to an end. I hoped that you have all enjoyed it. This was my very first attempt at fanfic. It was written for lovesfantasy's birthday, and I have only just gotten around to posting it and making myself a fanfic account. If you enjoyed this, I am surely glad because readers' reactions are a writer's bread and butter. I am currently writing a Pansy/Ron fic (once again for lovesfantasy, the best friend anyone could have) so, if that is your cup of tea, please come back and visit once it is posted. Once again, I will respond to reviews on my bio page, even after the conclusion of this story. Thank you all so much.

Cheers, Shadow

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In the weeks that followed, Ginny found it harder and harder to make it through the day. She was simply excited to know it was time to go to sleep. She fought this compulsion though. The book warned that if the pair using the stones did not acknowledge each other in reality, the dream could become addictive. Therefore, Ginny did not allow herself to visit Draco every night. She also took pains to talk to him outside of the dreams. It helped that they had potions together. The new potions teacher didn't really seem to care much about house distinctions, and had paired everyone up indifferently. Since Ginny and Draco had worked so well together that one day, Professor Nyne, had assigned them as permanent partners. Harry was stuck with Pansy, and Ron was lucky enough to be with Hermione. Harry and Pansy seemed to have come to some sort of agreement so that they could get their work finished, but Hermione and Ron argued constantly. Not that they didn't outside of the class. It was amusing to watch.

"Are they really going out with each other? It's amazing she hasn't killed him yet."

Ginny smothered a laugh at Draco's comment. He was standing right beside her, making Ginny very aware of him in that maddening way only he seemed to be able to accomplish. The breath from his words stirred the fine hair on her neck.

"Yes, they're dating. It took them long enough to acknowledge they liked each other. It's easy to see why they didn't realize it. Harry and Pansy get along better than they do."

Draco coughed suspiciously. Ginny glanced at him and realized that he was fighting a laugh, trying to hold onto his usual composure and failing. He seemed to be having more trouble maintaining his stony façade recently. She arched an eyebrow at him. He leaned in closer to talk right in her ear.

"Well, as to that…for the preservation of the peace, I happened to mention to Pansy that I heard Potter mention liking a girl with dark hair in Slytherin. Pansy won't admit it, but I think that she likes him. If she thinks that he might like her, she'll be civil enough for him to actually get to know her. Think of her as a rose with so many thorns that you can't see the flower. Who knows, Potter may just discover the well kept secret of Slytherin house."

"And what is that?"

"Not all Slytherins are bad—some of us are just good actors."

Ginny couldn't help it. He was so close to her. She leaned back against him just for a moment and sighed. He looked down at her, and his eyes widened in recognition. Her sigh was one that he had heard so many times in his dreams and a few times when he felt her presence. In fact, he felt stupid that he had not realized it before—although he may not have been ready to know who his comforter was. He opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, a loud rumble issued from the cauldron in front of Goyle and Luna. Goyle was scratching his head, and Luna was staring placidly at the seething cauldron in front of her.

"I suppose we'd better run. Goyle put double the amount of slangboom skin that it called for. By the reaction the mixture is having, I would imagine that he added extra of something else as well."

Draco had put his arms protectively around Ginny at the first sign of trouble, although Ginny noticed that he had left her wand arm free, counting on her to take an active role. She thought that everyone was staring at the cauldron, so she didn't move away from Draco. Rather, she leaned in closer. With so much on her mind, it wasn't a wonder that she didn't see Hermione and Ron glaring at Draco.

Ginny didn't have the chance to talk to Draco. Everyone was evacuated from the dungeons, and Hermione and Ron briskly bundled her off to Gryffindor common room. Since she knew that she would see Draco tonight, she didn't protest. She didn't want anyone to know about this yet.

Unfortunately they already did.

At dinner that night, Draco kept glancing at her and almost smiling. Ginny knew that she was just as bad. Luna didn't mind that she was preoccupied, but Ron and Hermione wouldn't leave her alone. They kept trying to get her full attention from down the table a bit. She ignored them. Harry actually tried to get them to leave her alone. She could hear them arguing from all the way where she was sitting.

As she had half expected, Hermione herded her back to Gryffindor common room. So Ron and Hermione were suspicious at least, and expected to keep her away from Draco. Well, they could try, but she doubted they would even imagine that she could meet Draco anyway. She was in a good mood when she finally went off to bed. Ron had challenged her to Wizard's chess and she had beaten him. It was late, so Ginny hurried through her evening routine. She lay down and relaxed, slipping into the familiar trance—and running into a painful wall of fear. Feeling panic creeping into her mind, Ginny realized that Draco wasn't asleep, and that something was dreadfully wrong. She snapped back into wakefulness and with the ease of practice slipped out of the girl's dormitory, noting as she went Hermione's absence from her bed. Ginny knew to expect it, but anger filled her when she saw that Ron's bed was empty as well. As she grabbed Harry's cloak and opened the map, Ginny's hands were shaking. Draco was in Dumbledore's office. Usually that would have soothed Ginny, but there were others in the room. Hermione, Ron, Moody, and several other members of the Order of the Phoenix were in there as well. As Ginny hurried along the passageways, her heart in her throat, she told herself that no matter what had happened, if she needed to, she would stand by Draco.

The obliging map provided her with the password to enter Dumbledore's office from a different doorway. When she finally got to where she could see Draco, the situation did not look to be a good one.

They had all gathered around him. Ginny wanted to stop them, but Dumbledore was in control of this. Draco's expression had actually hardened further.

"Draco, while we are all gathered here, we need an answer. There are those here who are calling for your exile from Hogwarts." The sight of Dumbledore, calm and steady as always, was reassuring.

"Then I guess I will leave." Draco turned toward the door, that all-consuming pride holding his head up even in the face of all that was happening.

"I'm afraid, Draco, that we cannot let you do that. You have been accused of consorting with Death Eaters, and this situation must be addressed…Do you trust me?"

This was said in Dumbledore's most gentle tones. Draco tensed briefly, as if he almost planned on making a break for it, but then with Dumbledore's last words, all the fight seemed to run right out of him. When he turned around, Ginny could tell that several of the more eager participants of this inquisition were suddenly losing their taste for this. Draco's façade had crumbled. His eyes were filled with a forlorn anger, and his expression was naked emotion. No one in this room but Ginny had ever seen him this way—least of all Ron, who suddenly looked sick.

Without another word, Draco took the seat that had been offered to him. He sat, tension evident in the lines of his chin and neck. Dumbledore's fingers tickled the air and a breeze wafted through the room. Draco's eyes became hazy and unfocused, but his tension remained. Dumbledore frowned a moment.

"Relax, Draco." The Slytherin prince's muscles unlocked, and he slowly leaned back in the chair.

"Now, tell me about the last time you met with Death Eaters, or anyone affiliated with them."

"It was tonight…" Draco's voice was slow and groggy, like someone half-awake. Ron and Hermione nodded with satisfaction upon hearing the confession. Ginny suddenly knew without a doubt that they had orchestrated this little scene. Hermione had been suspiciously absent while Ginny played chess against her brother.

"They had sent me a present, a racing broom, in hopes of gaining me back on their side. They came to try and get me to join the attempt to break my father out of Azkaban. I told them it wouldn't work and that I wouldn't help them. They were understandably angry. They called me a coward, so I told them to go to hell. At that point, they probably would have pounded me, but we heard someone rustling around in the forest. They ran off, and I came right back here and told Dumbledore about their plans, just as I gave him the broom with which they tried to spell me to join…"

Dumbledore nodded, but others in the room looked angry. Moody looked like he was about to mutter one of his famous rants about being able to trust no one, but Dumbledore put his hand up.

"Draco, tell me why you trust this Dumbledore you spoke about."

"My mother was never the same after father was apprehended the second time…something went wrong inside her head. She kept talking to the air and potted plants, calling them Lucius. It was getting worse and worse. We had moved into my little apartment that I bought before father was arrested the first time. The ministry did not deem it necessary to confiscate that. I didn't have enough money to get her any help.

I was approached by several Death Eaters at that point, all offering to assist if I would only join them…I had my own reasons for not wanting to do that, so I kept putting them off…at that point though, I was getting desperate—I was actually considering their offer…that's when Dumbledore stepped in. He offered to be my guardian until I turned of age, and he would take care of my mother. I accepted his offer. He immediately got us out of that apartment and brought me here. He has proven to me at least that he deserves my respect, no matter what side he might be on. My mother has been made comfortable and she has made progress. Dumbledore has continued to act as my guardian even though I recently turned seventeen. Because he has done what he said he would and more, I have come to trust him…"

This, and Dumbledore's confidence in him, seemed to satisfy most of the people in the room. Only Hermione had a question left to ask. Ginny knew what was coming. She wanted to hear the answer, but she was dreading it as well.

"Why did you betray your father and the Death Eaters?"

Draco shuddered all over. His jaw seemed to be fighting his response. Life came back into his eyes. Dumbledore frowned. He looked at Draco's pleading eyes and hesitated. Moody on the other hand, did not. The spell was strengthened and Draco sat bolt upright, his eyes full of nameless hellish things. His voice when he spoke was devoid of emotion, which only made his words more terrifying.

"I was there that night—the night that my father was arrested the second time—the night Charlie Weasley and Bellatrix Lestrange were killed…"

The room was stifling in the thickness of silence. Ginny felt her heart slip a beat at the mention of that terrible night, as it always did when anyone mentioned the fate of her brother, who had dueled Bellatrix Lestrange to the death, both his and hers.

"We were all there…the children of the Death Eaters. Our parents brought us, told us it was time for us to take our rightful places. I remember, I was so excited, so bloody proud—my father actually believed that I could be of use to him. Mother wasn't happy about it. She didn't want me to go, and she and father had a monstrous argument about it. Of course father won…when we got there, we found out what they wanted us for…"

Draco reached for his left sleeve and began tugging it up his arm.

"It wasn't quite what we expected…"

Everyone in the room gaped in horror at the mark on Draco's arm. Not the lurid brand everyone expected, but the mark of a manacle that had chafed the skin off and left a wide swath of painful-looking scar tissue.

"Our parents brought us there to be sacrificed to Lord Voldemort. He had found a new spell that would allow him to gain all of our magic through the spilling of our blood…They brought us there without hesitation. My father had even smiled at me when we left Malfoy Manor…They weren't surprised when we got there. They put the chains on us themselves."

Silent tears were now leaving silver tracks down Draco's face as he talked. The listeners were revolted, yet riveted despite themselves. Draco took a deep breath and a broken sort of emotion returned to his voice.

"They had just killed Macnair's son when you arrived and set us free. His screams were excruciating. He had to have been only seven or eight. He kept screaming "Daddy, why?" over and over, as his own father sharpened the axe." Draco's breathing became even less steady as he saw the scene before his eyes again, reliving the moment.

"Mordred, make them stop, I still hear the screams. Make them stop please! Oh, bloody hell they're ripping my head apart. I can't help him. Stop, damn you all! I hate you father! You bastard! Why, daddy?"

Draco now had his hands over his ears and he was yelling. Tears were pouring down his face, and his entire body was tense and shaking. Dumbledore's fingers snapped loudly, cutting across Draco's agonized moans, and Draco collapsed in his chair, completely unconscious. Dumbledore whirled and face Moody and the others. Ginny had rarely seen the headmaster so angry. His voice was carefully controlled.

"I hope you are all happy. Did you get what you came for? If you are through questioning Draco, I'll return him to his quarters." With that, Dumbledore turned and scooped Draco up as if he weighed nothing. He took a step and disappeared. The occupants of the room just stared after them in shock before leaving in small groups, much more quietly than they arrived. Both Ron and Hermione looked pale and guilty.

Ginny flew to her room, not even bothering to return Harry's things. She was shaken deeply by what had happened, but she knew that Draco would be in a worse state. His walls had been ripped open, and his secrets exposed to those he considered enemies. She prayed that he was wearing the amulet and dropped into the trance. She was inside the walls, but just barely. They were thicker than they had ever been, and were made of ice. It was so thick that it was opaque. In the center of a tiny circle contained within the towering walls, Draco sat quietly, draped in a black hood and cloak, staring into his own private hell.

Ginny didn't say anything. She simply sat next to him and wrapped her arms around him. He was freezing. Desperately, Ginny willed warmth into him. She didn't know how long they sat there like that, but after some time, she noticed that the walls were slick with water, and Draco had moved to put an arm around her. He was resting against her as if all of the strength had gone from him, but he was breathing, and his skin was warm again.

"…Ginny…"

A warm sensation went down Ginny's spine hearing Draco say her name that way. It was her name, but no one ever said it quite like Draco did. It included so much of what he felt for her that she knew he loved her back.

"…you were there, weren't you. When they were questioning me. I could feel your presence close by. I keep thinking that I'll find out that it isn't really you when I wake up. That in reality, you still hate me. It's okay if you do. I'll understand. But when I saw you in class and we talked, I found myself wishing that it was you, and laughing at myself because the irony of the whole thing is amazing. And then you leaned against me…"

He kissed the tips of her fingers. Then her lips, and her neck, tracing a line of awakening passion down her spine. He returned to her lips and lingered there. Draco pulled back and looked at her, memorizing and holding every line and every freckle. He wrapped his arms around her and held on tightly.

"Ginny, oh Ginnnyy…" Hermione was tugging determinedly on a handful of red hair.

"Sod off Hermione. I don't wish to speak with you after what you did to my lover last night."

Ginny's eyes glistened slightly malevolently at Hermione's stunned expression. She left the older girl still standing by the bed and rushed down to breakfast. She found Draco standing by the doors, staring at his friends at the Slytherin table and the few Ravenclaws he had befriended.

"Such a terrible thing to happen to all of us…"

"But why don't they remember? They all seem like it never happened."

"For them it didn't." Draco looked over at his friends at the Slytherin table, his expression unreadable. "I erased their memories of it. They don't have the scars from that night to remind them. My father put on my chains more tightly because he knew that I could escape if they were even slightly loose. He also spelled them so that if I struggled, they bit deeper. I struggled." While he said this, he unconsciously rubbed one hand around his left wrist. Then he looked at Ginny and smiled at her.

"At least one good thing has come from all of this." Draco reached out and caught a lock of her hair in his hand. It was the lock with the stone braided in it. As soon as he touched it, he arched an eyebrow, and reached for his own stone. The powerful wave of mixed magic and emotions shared between them almost knocked them over. Draco let go and took a deep steadying breath.

"What…"

Ginny just smiled at him, and willed her heart to show through her eyes. Draco looked slightly taken aback. While Draco recovered himself, Ginny allowed her eyes to wander over to the head table. Dumbledore was looking straight at her. He just winked and went back to his conversation with Hagrid. Ginny noticed that his hand was resting on a large ancient book…similar to one that she had most recently seen in the school library. She knew that if she looked for it now she wouldn't find it. She turned back to Draco and nodded. They walked into the Great Hall side by side. Shocked faces turned to look at them.

Their fingers touched for a moment, hesitant—a brief exhilarating brushing of fingertips filled with promise. Then Ginny took Draco's hand. And Draco smiled, for all of Hogwarts to see.